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Margo Sorgman was diagnosed with an MPN, polycythemia vera (PV), just a few months ago at the age of 71. She shares her story of learning about the condition, meeting with Dr. Brady Stein, and how she’s doing today.

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The Latest News on Research and Treatment for Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPNs)

A Town Meeting for Patients, Their Families & Care Partners

Being diagnosed with, a rare medical condition like a myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) can be overwhelming and sometimes confusing. The good news is that innovations in the field are increasing the understanding of MPNs. Research advances are making a difference and improving the lives of those living with polycythemia vera (PV), essential thrombocythemia (ET) and myelofibrosis (MF).

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Please remember the opinions expressed on Patient Power are not necessarily the views of our sponsors, contributors, partners or Patient Power. Our discussions are not a substitute for seeking medical advice or care from your own doctor. That’s how you’ll get care that’s most appropriate for you.

Andrew Schorr:

Hello and welcome to Patient Power. I’m Andrew Schorr. So
now we have a new arm of drug treatment for multiple myeloma-monoclonal
antibodies. To help us understand where monoclonal antibodies come in and what
they mean for patients, we’re joined by Dr. Joseph Mikhael from the Mayo Clinic
in Arizona.

Dr. Mikhael:

I often say that myeloma is aptly named as multiple myeloma, meaning that it’s a
very different disorder in different patients—meaning it has a lot of
complexity to it. Some patients do, sadly, poorly, and others do very well.
What I think we have learned is that it’s not just about the tumor itself. It’s
about the environment, and understanding the tumor in its environment has given
us multiple so-called targets to be able to affect the disease.

If I know the enemy is across the street and I can’t even
get into that building, maybe I can shut off the power to the building or shut
off the water to the building. Now we have all of these different targets. The
first step is to prove that each target can actually do something—that cutting
off the power does affect that enemy, but then being able to combine them
together. I think that that approach is what has brought us this far in
myeloma. It’s not just about one wonder drug. It’s about having several drugs
and then tailoring those drugs to every patient. What is going to work best in
this patient, from its so-called efficac—how well it works—but also its
tolerability. So if some drugs cause certain side effects and those side
effects are really tough for certain patients, then we have options. So I’m
very encouraged by the fact that we have multiple options now and options that
are dissimilar enough that we can start to combine them.

We’ve known for years that almost every myeloma cell has
this little hook sticking out of it, what we call CD38 just like most
lymphomas, for example, have a different hook called CD20. And so drugs were
designed to attack, if you will, that hook or hook on to it and trigger the
patient’s own immune system to destroy that cell with the real benefit where it
only hits those cells that have that hook and not the others. It’s eluded us
for a number of years in myeloma to be able to do the same thing as we’ve done
in lymphoma.

So what we’re doing with this drug called SAR, that we’ve
called it for short, which is an anti-CD38 molecule or anti-CD38 drug, is a
drug that hooks onto that hook, the CD38 that’s present on almost every myeloma
cell and triggers the patient’s own immune system to destroy it, and also, at
the same time, just by grabbing onto the hook, also destroys the cell. I think
those two properties together makes it so valuable.

What we’ve been able to show is that the drug works on its
own, and we expect to be able to show that it works with combinations of the drugs
that we have now. What’s perhaps most exciting about it is that this is a drug
that is very well tolerated, as we say, meaning there’s very few side effects
and, thankfully, no overlapping side effects with the traditional drugs in
myeloma. You don’t really see people’s blood counts drop. We don’t see
neuropathy. We don’t see the kinds of effects that we have with the other drugs
that we’ve been using.

I think this antibody therapy is something that we’re
excited about, because we can use it in combination with the drugs that we have
right now, and we’re starting to see that benefit. So it’s going to make the
myeloma equation, if you will, very complicated, but complex is good for
patients, and that’s what we want in the sense that we want options. I tell my
patients it’s not like playing a game, but I want to play the best card for
them, but I want to play the card that’s going to let me play my other cards
later. As we move this disease to more chronic, we look at other diseases that
we’ve been able to do that, it’s because we’ve had multiple options that we’ve
used appropriately and sequentially.

Andrew Schorr:

Thanks for Dr. Joseph Mikhael for helping us better understand
monoclonal antibodies for myeloma. Be sure to look at related videos on our
website to get the full breadth of knowledge related to multiple myeloma. And
sign up for alerts on our website so you’ll know whenever we post something
new. Remember, knowledge can be the best medicine of all.

Please remember the opinions expressed on Patient Power are not necessarily the views of our sponsors, contributors, partners or Patient Power. Our discussions are not a substitute for seeking medical advice or care from your own doctor. That’s how you’ll get care that’s most appropriate for you.